Rumored Samsung QWERTY Slider Smartphone Gets FCC Approval

It looks like AT&T has two Android smartphones coming its way–one (or both) of which could be AT&T’s variant, rumored to be rebranded as the Samsung Galaxy Attain, of the globally released Samsung Galaxy S II.

The latest one spotted making the rounds at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) bore model number SGH-I927 (FCC ID A3LSGHI927). This model number caused a lot of hype–and a fair amount of confusion–when tech blog Boy Genius Report (BGR) late last month published leak photos of a QWERTY-slider handset bearing the same model number.

And, as is usually the case for FCC sightings, the release date for the Samsung SGH-I927 is probably just around the corner. As to when exactly, we don’t know for certain yet.

The FCC documents filed for Samsung SGH-I927 reveal that the handset has radios for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, and HSPA on the 850 and 1900 frequencies. The phone also has Bluetooth and WLAN capabilities. No mention was made of any Near Field Communication (NFC) chip onboard. No hints were given about the presence of a QWERTY slider keyboard either.

However, it is likely that SGH-I927 could be AT&T’s new QWERTY slider phone. But, where is AT&T’s Samsung Galaxy S II? Our guess is that it’s coming under a different model number–SGH-I777–which also recently earned the required FCC certifications for the same set of wireless radios plus NFC.

All that being said, the SGH-I927 just might be AT&T’s QWERTY slider phone, while the SGH-I777 might be its Samsung Galaxy S II variant (with NFC and virtual keyboard). But, until we get official word from either Samsung or AT&T, take all these speculations with a big grain of salt.